Question For Atheists

[Apex]

There is an article over at Friendly Atheist that made me interested if other atheists agree with some of its statements. You can read the whole thing here, Friendly Atheist by @hemantmehta » Atheism Inherently Offends.

Here are my questions:
Does atheism inherently offend?

Does being atheist also entail the belief that religious individuals are wrong and that you, the atheist, are anti-religious?

Does declaring yourself an atheist also declare what you consider true in the world? (As opposed to what is false)

Does stating that you are an atheist also mean that you believe others should become atheists as well?

Do you, as an atheist, have a responsibility to challenge other peoples religious beliefs?

Notice to theists, this is in the atheist DIR.

[Caladan]

Originally Posted by Apex

There is an article over at Friendly Atheist that made me interested if other atheists agree with some of its statements. You can read the whole thing here, Friendly Atheist by @hemantmehta » Atheism Inherently Offends.

Here are my questions:
Does atheism inherently offend?

It offends the ignorant. if a person is offended by the intellectual world of another, the problem is with the offended. and I am proud to offend (and hopefully enlighten)

Does being atheist also entail the belief that religious individuals are wrong and that you, the atheist, are anti-religious?

I'm certainly not anti religious. i'm strongly sympathetic on many occasions to the idea of 'to each his own'. however, I'm certainly willing to give more benefit to atheists as people who are intellectually mature in one sense or the other, and who have risked themselves in the sense of not conforming to superstition.

Does declaring yourself an atheist also declare what you consider true in the world? (As opposed to what is false)

Im not really declaring myself an atheist in every day life, its a trivial piece of my identity. I was never religious, and atheism naturally resonates with me.

Does stating that you are an atheist also mean that you believe others should become atheists as well?

One can only hope. I certainly dont have the will and time to prosetylize my disbelief. Im almost assuming by default that many, if not the majority of people I interact with on every day basis are atheists as sort of a healthy natural default.

Do you, as an atheist, have a responsibility to challenge other peoples religious beliefs?

When people voice their ignorance or bigotry I'll be happy to publicly renounce them.

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Originally Posted by Apex

There is an article over at Friendly Atheist that made me interested if other atheists agree with some of its statements. You can read the whole thing here, Friendly Atheist by @hemantmehta » Atheism Inherently Offends.

Here are my questions:
Does atheism inherently offend?

It may inherently offend some people, but I don't think it has to.

When atheism does offend, I think this might have more to do with the inherent properties of the one offended than of atheism. The only thing that's inherent in atheism itself is the implicit statement to the theist "I don't accept your position". Since people tend to be personally invested in their religious beliefs, I can see how this might be considered offensive, but I think the cause lies with the offended, not the offender.

Of course, this is separate to things like ridicule. For example, I think it would be inherently offensive to call belief in God stupid, but I don't think that these sorts of tactics necessarily go along with atheism.

Originally Posted by Apex

Does being atheist also entail the belief that religious individuals are wrong and that you, the atheist, are anti-religious?

Not necessarily.

At its most fundamental, atheism is the non-acceptance of truth claims about gods. Non-acceptance does not automatically imply acceptance of the claims' falsity.

Originally Posted by Apex

Does declaring yourself an atheist also declare what you consider true in the world? (As opposed to what is false)

Not by itself. However, I don't see how any person can function without making truth claims about the world. Though this doesn't make those truth claims part of atheism.

Originally Posted by Apex

Does stating that you are an atheist also mean that you believe others should become atheists as well?

Not necessarily.

Originally Posted by Apex

Do you, as an atheist, have a responsibility to challenge other peoples religious beliefs?

When those beliefs lead to harmful actions, perhaps. Otherwise, probably not.

[Smoke]

Originally Posted by Apex

Does atheism inherently offend?

Some people seem to think so, but I don't know why it should be any more offensive than saying that one is, for instance, not a Christian. Or saying that one is a theist, for that matter.

Originally Posted by Apex

Does being atheist also entail the belief that religious individuals are wrong and that you, the atheist, are anti-religious?

(a) Not all religions are theistic.
(b) it seems a massive and futile undertaking to oppose all religions that teach things one doesn't oneself believe.

Originally Posted by Apex

Does declaring yourself an atheist also declare what you consider true in the world? (As opposed to what is false)

Not without further elaboration, which will obviously differ from one atheist to another.

Originally Posted by Apex

Does stating that you are an atheist also mean that you believe others should become atheists as well?

What do you mean should? I think it would be good if they did; I don't think they have any moral obligation to do so -- especially considering the many and diverse ways of being a theist.

Originally Posted by Apex

Do you, as an atheist, have a responsibility to challenge other peoples religious beliefs?

Not necessarily. I may have a responsibility to challenge some religious actions.

[KarlVonMox]

There are great questions, and I was hoping to have a debate like this (in fact I started a thread on this earlier) - specifically how, as atheists, should be deal with a society dominated by religion and how we should interact with religious individuals. This to me is still an open question and I'd love to see some perspective on this.

On to your questions:

Does atheism inherently offend?

It does to some. This is not our problem, and 100% theirs. They cannot restrict our speech because that goes against the freedom and liberty the United State is supposed to give. They must learn to live with the fact that there are atheists among them. And some of us vote!

Does being atheist also entail the belief that religious individuals are wrong and that you, the atheist, are anti-religious?

Logically, god or gods exist or they do not. I maintain that theists have no justification for their belief in an undefinable and unknowable supernatural being. However, I've found the "live and let live" approach to be nice as long as theists aren't infringing my civil rights and Im not being discriminated against. Once again, we come to this question of how actively we should attack religion.

Does declaring yourself an atheist also declare what you consider true in the world? (As opposed to what is false)

The answer is no. There is no content to atheism other than non-belief, and it makes no other claims about anything else.

Do you, as an atheist, have a responsibility to challenge other peoples religious beliefs?

This is a great question, and one I've thought about extensively. We all know that theism is harmful. We all know its entrenched in society and its easy to offend peoples sensibilities just from questioning the existence of God. I guess it deals with how productive should challenges can be, how exactly peoples beliefs should be challenged (aka Hitchens or Sam Harris, different approaches), and how well are they justified (as in, how harmful exactly is theism). I think peoples beliefs should be challenged. No belief should have an exemption from criticism. Just how far we should go before it stops being productive is an open question

[freethinker44]

Originally Posted by Apex

Does atheism inherently offend?

I think it is kind of hard to not offend a theist by being atheist. Atheism is sort of like a reactionary belief, meaning atheism is like a challenge to theism. A theist claims there is a god and atheism is born when someone says the theist is wrong, and no one likes to be corrected or told they are wrong especially about something that is so important to their life. In many cases telling a theist there is no god is like telling him that his whole life is a mistake, so yeah I can see how it would be offensive.

With that said though;

The truth hurts.

Originally Posted by Apex

Does being atheist also entail the belief that religious individuals are wrong and that you, the atheist, are anti-religious?

I don't think it means you are automatically against religion, just because you don't accept something doesn't mean you are against it. Like I said above, atheism is basically the belief that theists are wrong so that part is kind of hard to get past.

Originally Posted by Apex

Does declaring yourself an atheist also declare what you consider true in the world? (As opposed to what is false)

I am willing to bet that no one, whether atheist or theist, believes that their beliefs are untrue so this applies to everyone.

Originally Posted by Apex

Does stating that you are an atheist also mean that you believe others should become atheists as well?

Not necessarily, but kind of along the same lines as my reply to the last question, no one believes they are wrong so if someone believes something contrary then it is natural to try to push them in what you consider the "right" direction so again, I think this applies to everyone.

Originally Posted by Apex

Do you, as an atheist, have a responsibility to challenge other peoples religious beliefs?

No one has a responsibility to change anyone elses mind. That can only be done by yourself.

[whereismynotecard]

Does atheism inherently offend?
It definitely offends some people. But pretty much every religion, gender, ethnicity, age, economic status, and so forth will offend at least someone. People can be pretty douchey about everyone else not being an exact clone of them.

Does being atheist also entail the belief that religious individuals are wrong and that you, the atheist, are anti-religious?
I'm not sure what anti-religious means... If it means I hate religion, then no, because I don't care if other people have religions. I just don't like jerkwads, and they come in both religious and atheist varieties. I do think that I am right in my beliefs though, or else I wouldn't believe them... So I do think that certain aspects of some religions, such as a belief in god is incorrect. If I thought they were right, I'd join their religion...

Does declaring yourself an atheist also declare what you consider true in the world? (As opposed to what is false)
I'm not sure what that means. But the only thing that is true of all atheists is the lack of belief in god(s). That's all; so any other beliefs would be dependent on the individual atheist.

Does stating that you are an atheist also mean that you believe others should become atheists as well?
I don't care what others do. As long as they aren't mean to me or other people because of religion, they can follow whatever religion they want to, and I won't care.

Do you, as an atheist, have a responsibility to challenge other peoples religious beliefs?
Nope. I like to inform people that atheism is a possibility, because I didn't even know about it until I found out on my own, but I don't want to drill it into people's skulls. I just think people should decide their beliefs on their own, knowing every possibility instead of just following their parents. And that goes for all beliefs. Even atheism. Parents who tell their kids that they have to be atheists are ********** too. You should let your kids decide for themselves what they believe...

[ContentiusMaximus]

Here are my questions:
Does atheism inherently offend?

It offends some people I know. But they seem to be mostly restricted to the Internet, so it doesn't really effect me. I have a lot of theist friends who are comfortable with my atheism and do not proselytize. Then again, it probably differs from region to region.

Does being atheist also entail the belief that religious individuals are wrong and that you, the atheist, are anti-religious?

Well as an atheist, I do believe there's a good chance religious people are wrong. I wouldn't know for sure, though. Nobody does. But I'm only anti-religious to the extent that someone's religion interferes in someone else's life (i.e. religious lobby to block gay marriage, etc). But I know that all theists do not share those views.

Does declaring yourself an atheist also declare what you consider true in the world? (As opposed to what is false)

Of course it does. At least, as far as my religious ideology goes.

Does stating that you are an atheist also mean that you believe others should become atheists as well?

I think atheism is intellectual freedom and it's a very liberating experience. I would encourage others to become atheist, but not if that's not what they truly believe. I know some who are atheist but are afraid to come out because of pressure from family, so they pretend to be Christian (I should know...I'm one of them...). In that case, I would encourage them to "come out" when the time is right. But I would not encourage proselytizing.

Do you, as an atheist, have a responsibility to challenge other peoples religious beliefs?

We all have a responsibility to challenge the beliefs of others, theist or atheist or deist or what have you. This is how ideas are contested. This is how we determine truth. We will never know our real beliefs if we sit comfortably in our little cave, afraid of criticism of our beliefs. We need to eventually get out and pit our beliefs against others to see if we can properly defend them and if we cannot, perhaps we should reconsider. Venues like RF are perfect for this

[mball1297]

Originally Posted by Apex

Here are my questions:
Does atheism inherently offend?

No. It only offends when it's presented in a certain way or the believer makes it offend.

Does being atheist also entail the belief that religious individuals are wrong and that you, the atheist, are anti-religious?

No. It only entails the absence of belief in God.

Does declaring yourself an atheist also declare what you consider true in the world? (As opposed to what is false)

Not at all. I would say it could give you a clue to what the person believes, but it doesn't inherently address what the person believes about anything other than God.

Does stating that you are an atheist also mean that you believe others should become atheists as well?

No.

Do you, as an atheist, have a responsibility to challenge other peoples religious beliefs?

No.

[Nepenthe]

Originally Posted by Apex

Does atheism inherently offend?

I don't think inherently so, though theists may be offended since atheism does inherently challenge a very important aspect of many people's lives. To disagree on whether a certain movie was good or bad is one thing, but someone who doesn't believe in something that is fundamentally important to so many may ruffle feathers like it or not. Having said that, there's no reason it should inherently offend. I hope not anyway.

Originally Posted by Apex

Does being atheist also entail the belief that religious individuals are wrong and that you, the atheist, are anti-religious?

No, definitely not. Atheism isn't inherently anti-religious no more than it's anti-capitalism or anti-existentialism. Religion is here to stay, ritualized behavior that encourages social cohesion and emotional succor is not going away. The only thing I'd argue that may be seen as anti-religious to some is that secular concepts of morality- say, social progress like gay rights- all too often clash with traditional faiths and those faiths must conform or shed the baggage of obsolete moralities.

Originally Posted by Apex

Does declaring yourself an atheist also declare what you consider true in the world? (As opposed to what is false)

I suppose it does if only on a minor philosophical stance, but to extend it to "true in the world" might be hyperbole.

Originally Posted by Apex

Does stating that you are an atheist also mean that you believe others should become atheists as well?

Not at all. I think emphasizing similar political and social ideas is more important than splitting hairs with theists; better that a theist shares my views on real world issues rather than philosophical arguments for or against theism. Sure, all too often dogmatic religions bleed over into political activism and have an oppressive impact on social progress, but it's the religious dogmas that are to be challenged; theism or atheism by itself is really superfluous imo.

Originally Posted by Apex

Do you, as an atheist, have a responsibility to challenge other peoples religious beliefs?

The only responsibilities I have are to my wife and son, my friends, my society. Challenging religions is just a fun hobby.